


Super Effective!

by InkFlavored



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bad Puns, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, M/M, also they play pokemon, atem has his own body because i said so, honestly its just the puzzle boys being cute, just turn back now if you don't like puns because you WILL die, like. guys. there are a lot of puns, no i will not explain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 08:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20224519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkFlavored/pseuds/InkFlavored
Summary: Yugi has just about had it with his Other Self's terrible, awful, just-plain-bad puns. He retaliates in the worst possible way.





	Super Effective!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MalikBishtar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalikBishtar/gifts).

> HEY EVERYONE this piece is my half of an art trade with the lovely MalikBishtar on tumblr, and you are all REQUIRED to go check them out - both their half of this trade and also in general because they are a fantastic artist and all around good person!! do it!!!!

"If you make one more stupid pun, I will literally stab you.”

“Well, that isn’t very a _knife_ thing to say.” 

Yugi closed his eyes and took a deep, slow breath. _This is how it ends_, he thought. _I'm going to kill my Other Self._

After all the work they did to get Atem back from the afterlife, and this is how it all turned out. He couldn't say it wouldn't be worth it.

"I'm not going to use a knife," Yugi corrected. He spun his desk chair around, studies forgotten, to glare. "I'm going to use a spoon."

Atem looked up curiously from where he was sitting on the bed, the game of the hour (Pokémon Ultra Sun, which he'd already beaten twice) stalling in his hands. "Why? That’s terribly inefficient."

"Because it'll hurt more."

Infuriatingly, he laughed. “Whatever you say, Partner.”

Yugi glanced back at the work on his desk for four seconds before deciding he needed a break. Even though he was only three months shy of graduating, the homework had not gotten any easier, and the prospect of exams had not been less of a looming threat over his head. It was the last thing he wanted to think about. He stood up and made for the door.

“I’m getting a drink,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Want anything?”

Atem only glanced away from his game for as long as it took to say, “No, thank you.”

Yugi took one step into the hall.

“See you spoon.”

He whirled around and jabbed a finger toward the bed in warning. “I _will_ kill you a second time.”

Atem didn’t respond – he hadn't even looked up – but there was a cheeky smile tucked into his chest. Yugi pretended to strangle him before spinning on his heel and stalking out. 

So many puns. It was like an avalanche of bad puns, that whole afternoon. Yugi had no idea what he’d done to deserve it, but whatever it was, it must have angered some kind of humor god who put the idea into his Other Self’s head to just _keep making puns_. For hours. It was ridiculous. 

That last one was the worst so far, Yugi decided. It shunted _ad-deck-ted_ down the line at the very least. He bit his tongue when an involuntary smile tried to crawl its way onto his face.

So _maybe_ he didn’t hate the puns as much as he claimed. But they were still annoying. And stupid. And they were distracting him from doing work.

He frowned at the thought of work. No matter what, it seemed like concentrating was hopeless. The words – or numbers, depending on the subject – would start becoming meaningless scribbles the longer he stared at them, his thoughts wandering away from his "school" mindset and toward literally anything else. 

Yugi trotted down the stairs and made that particular thought a bit more honest. His mind was wandering to exactly _one_ place every time. He bit his tongue again. 

Still. None of it was an excuse for such terrible jokes. They were probably only making his difficulty concentrating _worse_ because he was too busy being angry about how bad they were.

Yeah. That was it.

He swung into the kitchen and sighed. No time for that. He had to keep his school brain intact long enough to finish his homework. _Then_ he could be angry about Atem's bad jokes. He snatched a glass out of a cabinet and flipped on the sink to fill it, already dreading the assignments open on his desk.

_I’m going to drown in all this work,_ he lamented. He half-smiled at his glass when he shut off the sink. _Hah, drown. Water._

The glass was halfway to his lips before he _gasped_ at himself in indignation. He just—Without even thinking about it! He didn’t even do it on _purpose_! And he knew exactly why he’d done it.

Yugi squinted and set his jaw. 

He was going to _kill_ Atem. 

And he was going to do it in the worst possible way.

He marched back up the stairs with conviction, but gathered his composure as he approached the bedroom door. He had to make this look convincing. Not that he’d need to pretend much. 

Yugi pushed open the door to his room, with _just_ enough drag in his shoulders and _just_ enough of a gloom over his expression that he knew Atem would notice. Whether he would realize it for the façade it was would be a different matter. 

He slumped back to his desk in such a way that it looked like he was trying to hide his disappointment. He landed in his chair heavily, setting his glass down, and then his _face_ down on one of his books.

“Yugi?” Atem asked, tinged with concern. Perfect.

_Homework, homework, homework_, Yugi chanted to himself, fighting the triumph that threatened to show on his face. _Think about homework. School_. _Classes._ _Exams. Ugh._

“I can’t do this anymore,” he groaned, now completely serious. “Too much work.”

“Why don’t you take a break?”

He rolled his head over to frown at the bed. Atem had the game tucked into his lap, smiling gently. Yugi lifted his frown a bit. Totally on purpose. 

“But if I don’t get this done…” he started.

“You have the rest of the week, don’t you?”

“Well, _yeah_, but—”

“That’s plenty of time, Partner. Don’t burn yourself out.”

He picked himself up off the book and sighed at it. He looked back at his Other Self. “You’re _really_ gonna drag me away from my work, huh?”

Atem scooted over on the bed, patting the space next to him. “I insist.”

Trying not to look too excited, Yugi picked himself up and made a show of flopping onto the bed and getting comfortable among the pillows and blankets. “You’ve convinced me.”

“And I’m sure it was _such _a difficult decision for you.”

He rolled his eyes and plopped his head down on Atem’s shoulder so he could better see the game. Automatically, Atem shifted his position to accommodate for the extra person, more or less pulling Yugi into his lap with his cheek squished against the top of his head, his left arm slipping under Yugi's so he could still play the game. They often sat like this – or vice versa – for single player and multiplayer games, so it was nothing new. There was something familiar and home-y about it. 

_Focus_, Yugi thought. He had a murder to carry out.

“Which trial are you at now?” he asked, watching Atem’s character run around the overworld and through tall grass.

“I’ve already finished them.”

Not surprising. “What are you doing now, then?”

“Just filling the Pokédex.” 

“You haven’t done it already?”

“Not fully. I’ve gotten close.”

The encounter theme interrupted their conversation, the screen shaking and spinning and revealing a Komala in the attacking position. Atem’s character threw out his first Pokémon.

“Litten?” Yugi asked.

“She’s the _obvious _choice.” 

“Why is it still a Litten, though? It’s level— It’s level _ninety-four_?”

“She’s perfect just the way she is.” 

Here was his opening. The beginning of the end.

“Don’t you mean _purr_-fect?” Yugi joked. 

Atem’s laugh vibrated up his back warmly. “I can’t believe I missed that one.”

“Don’t beat yourself up – there’s no Shaymin it.”

He laughed again, fingers pausing from his balancing act to get the Komala low enough to catch while not completely demolishing it. “Am I finally rubbing off on you after all this time?”

“It’s not completely Onix-pected.”

Atem cut off his own mirth to lean around and look Yugi in the face quizzically. "Who are you and what have you done with my partner?"

"Can't I make a couple jokes?"

His Other Self didn't look convinced, but went back to playing anyway, otherwise unbothered by the puns. Yugi wasn't deterred either, mentally settling himself in.

He knew how to play the long game, after all.

Yugi was remained on his best behavior (read: didn't make any puns) for the rest of the battle with the Komala – successfully caught – and afterward, too. Atem continued to run up and down Route 11, searching for another encounter. 

"What are you looking for?" Yugi asked.

He pulled a face. "A Gumshoos.”

“That one's _super _weird looking."

"That's most of the reason I don't already have one."

"I don't think I kept one in my party for long, either. It looks pretty _Gastly."_

Yugi even pulled the cheesy elbow-nudge as Atem rolled his eyes and snorted. "You're hilarious, Partner."

"I sure am! A real Hoothoot."

His laugh was genuine, but he also sounded disappointed that he was laughing at all. "Really, _what_ has gotten into you?"

"Nothing, I swear. I just thought I'd take a Chansey on a joke or two."

He barely snorted. "Or twenty."

"That's a little Farfetch'd, Other Me."

Atem took a measured breath through his nose, ruffling Yugi's hair on the exhale. "Is it now?"

"I'm just saying."

He opened his mouth – probably to protest how Yugi was _not_, in fact, "just saying" – but the words he would have said turned into an excited gasp as the encounter music started up. The screen spun around and faded up on the battle screen to reveal—

A Paras.

"Oh," Atem said, more than a little put out.

Yugi patted his leg encouragingly. "You'll get 'em next time."

"I suppose I can battle it for the experience." He switched out his Litten for an Umbreon.

"Kick its Par-ass." 

He didn't even laugh this time. "Yugi."

"What?"

"_Why_?"

That "long game" didn't end up being very long.

Yugi sat back against his Other Self, tipping his head back to rest on his shoulder. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" 

He didn't need to see Atem's face to watch the gears turn. For several seconds, the only sound was the poor Paras getting demolished, but it didn't take long for the pieces to click into place.

"_Oh_," Atem said, too excited to be simply realization. That was a bad sign. "Well, in _that_ case--"

He lifted the game, wiggling it around in demonstration.

"You're Umbre_on_."

This… might have been a mistake on Yugi's part. But there was no way he was backing down now.

"I'm afraid," he said, "I can't Rowlet you do that."

"Sorry, Partner. You asked Furret."

"I think your recent success in the joke department has Pory_gon_ to your head a little"

"Ha!" Atem was hardly paying attention to Ultra Sun anymore, too busy rubbing his smugness in Yugi's face. "You admitted they _worked_."

Yugi cursed his betrayer tongue. "I didn't admit anything."

"Yes you did."

"_No_, I didn't."

"You _Absol_-utely did."

He tried not to groan in anguish. _What have I gotten myself into_?

Atem squeezed him when he didn't get a response. "Don't Slakoth now, Yugi. You started it."

He sat up and crossed his arms. "Don't worry. I'm not going to Golett you win."

"Ooh, there's _winning_ involved. And what are the stakes?"

"Survival.”

“In that case, I can already hear the Victreebels.”

"No way. You better Steelix yourself, because I came prepared."

Atem chuckled in the back of his throat, but this time not out of humor. It was _patronizing_. "I'm sure."

Yugi did not at all come prepared – save for the few jokes he already used – and he intended to rectify that as soon as possible. He ran through a list of all the Pokémon he knew from every game he'd ever played, matching their names to rhyming words and references. He _would _win this, even at the cost of his own life. This was a game, and he was the _King _of Games_._

Unfortunately, he also happened to be sitting snug against the _second _person to hold that title. And that someone was a much bigger fan of puns. 

It wouldn't be easy. But Yugi didn't _want_ it to be easy.

Atem had returned – or had _appeared _to return – his focus to the game. He ran around in the grass, benign as can be, but Yugi knew better. There was a demon hiding under that innocent smile. A _pun demon. _

The next encounter was soon reached, and at last the weird-looking grimace of Gumshoos revealed itself. 

"Nice," Yugi said. "This about Seels the deal, right?"

"Well, don't Jynx it."

"I wouldn't Eevee-n dream of it."

He let out a tremendous snort. "You're pushing it. Bewear of running out of ideas this early."

Yugi shoved him a little in pretend anger. "Hey, don’t Smeargle my name like that."

“I’m just worried if you’ll be able to handle it.” 

“Handle _what_, exactly?”

Atem didn’t look up from his battle, his Litten doing some serious work to the poor Gumshoos. “A competition such as this can be very Crawdaunt-ing, and it would be awfully Tentacruel of me to let you continue without making you’re aware of the _Magnitude_ of the challenge you’re Seaking.” He finished with the smuggest smile on the face of the planet.

Yugi could feel his insides crumbling out of the sheer force of awful puns. His eye twitched. 

“Shuppet your mouth,” he managed.

Atem’s next laugh was borderline sadistic in the way that only a pun-lover’s can be. He pressed his forehead to the side of Yugi’s head and taunted, “_Fearow_ my power, Yugi.”

Yugi shoved him off. “I will Exeggcute you.”

“You would never Zubat.”

“You’re just going to have to Bayleef me, I guess.” He pretended to think for a moment. “Maybe we don't _always _see Sableye to eye like everyone says.”

Atem narrowed his eyes for a short moment and went back to his game. “That was far too clever for someone who didn’t plan this.”

Technically, he did plan it, but just not this far ahead. “I'm a very Scrafty person, you know.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Maybe I’m just better at puns than you thought.”

“You’re not going to get me to hand over a win that easily.”

_Dammit_. “Who said this was about that?”

Atem snorted and squeezed his backwards hug. “Do you expect me to believe you have absolutely _no_ Altaria motives?”

“What, you don’t Bayleef me?”

He gasped – and it was impossible to tell if he was being serious. “You already used that joke!”

“So?”

Atem saved the game instead of answering. Why was he saving the game?

He set the handheld to the side. Yugi was starting to get worried now.

“It means,” he finally said, and took his arms away from where they rested and brought them up to pat Yugi’s shoulders, “that you must forgive me, Partner.”

He was _definitely_ worried now. “Forgive you for—_hurgh_?”

As if being given an unneeded Heimlich, Yugi's arms were pinned to his sides and his lungs just about collapsed from the sheer intensity of the bind he found himself in. 

And then felt Atem rise up onto his knees.

"What are you—" Yugi choked out.

But was quickly interrupted.

"I use Slam_!"_

_"_You_ what?"_

Atem _hurled_ them to the surface of the bed so hard they bounced. Any air still in Yugi's lungs evacuated the instant he landed face-down onto his own comforter with a loud _oomf_.

Atem, on the other hand, was breathing just fine, and laughing like a maniac. "It was _Super Effective_!"

Yugi turned his head to one side and gasped, "What was that for?"

"You broke the rules," he answered matter-of-factly.

"_What _rules?"

"You used the same joke twice."

"Since when is a that a rule we agreed on?"

"It was implied."

"Oh, you are _so _full of—"

"Ah-ah! Watch your Lickitung, Partner."

_Okay, that's it,_ he decided, eyes bugged out of his head in exasperation. _Game over._

Yugi struggled in the constrictor-like grip, trying to wriggle his arms free, to no avail. "Let me go."

Atem's chin poked a place between his shoulder blades. "Hmm, let me think… No."

"Come _on_."

He set his head down and made comedic snoring noises.

Yugi couldn't help a laugh, despite himself. "Let me _up_, Atem."

"Sorry, I can't hear you. I'm asleep."

He struggled again. It wasn't very effective. "You're going to have to let me go eventually."

"And why is that?"

"Because I can't breathe."

It was a bit of an exaggeration. His lungs were still being crushed, but it was only difficult to get air, not impossible. Regardless, it got Atem off of him in a hurry. 

"Sorry," he said, rolling to the side and sitting up. “I didn’t know it was that tight.”

Yugi gratefully got to his knees, working his stiff arms. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” A let a slow smile spread across his face. “But you won’t be.”

Atem was already backing away on all fours, but he was too slow. Yugi pounced like a cat, tackling his Other Self and clamping his arms around the first thing he could grab – his chest, in the most aggressive hug ever – but was thrown off just as fast. Atem scrambled to the edge of the bed, only for Yugi to _drag_ him back by his legs.

“Stop it!” he demanded, kicking himself out of Yugi’s grip. He flipped over as wild as possible into a sitting position to defend himself from a counterattack. 

Yugi dodged the flying limbs, inexpertly slapping Atem’s hands out of the way. “_You_ started it.”

“No, _you_ started it.”

Yugi was perched on his knees, fingers poised like claws. Atem had to use one hand to prop himself up, legs bent in preparation, his free hand defending his face. Yugi swiped in again, but was deflected. They watched each other intently, like wild animals, waiting for the next move. Neither of them blinked. They were hardly breathing. Every second was a minute and every minute was an hour.

Slowly, carefully, Yugi sat back on his hips. “Truce?” he offered.

Atem sat up, just as wary. “Truce.”

He stuck out a hand to shake. Yugi took it.

“_Psyche_!” he shouted, and used his newfound leverage to _shove_ himself forward with all his might.

He threw out his arms spread-eagle as he took them both down again, landing with a hard _thump_ on something not as soft as a bed. Atem wheezed at the impact, going limp for only a second before he was right back to fighting the inevitable.

“No, no, no,” Yugi said. He sat up engaged in a mini-slap-fight with Atem before successfully locking his hands around his wrists and pinning them down in the first empty spots he could find. “You are staying _right_ here.”

“That’s what you think.”

He tried to pick up his arms but Yugi leaned his weight forward, making sure there was no way that was happening. Just for good measure, he locked his knees around his hips, too. Yugi was determined to _win_ whatever this was.

“I do think that, actually,” he said, smiling innocently. 

Atem pouted up at him like a toddler, but it quickly contorted into barely contained laughter. Yugi folded his lips into his mouth to try and prevent his own. 

“Hey, Yugi.”

“Mhmm?”

“Would you say I’m in a _Vice Grip_?”

No sooner had he finished the sentence than Yugi’s suppressed giggles exploded from their poorly made prison, and they both lost their minds in matching fits of laughter. They would each die down independently, then they’d open their watering eyes and look at each other for about three seconds before cracking themselves up all over again.

Finally, Yugi sat up, releasing Atem’s wrists to wipe away the tears of mirth. “Okay, okay. Okay. I’m good.”

Atem hadn’t even made a move to escape, staring at the ceiling intently and trying to steady his breathing. “Yes. Alright, me too.”

Yugi tipped over to lie on his side next to his Other Self, one leg still thrown lazily across his hips. “Truce for real this time.”

Atem rolled on his side too, fixing him with a suspicious squint. “Promise?”

He held out a pinky. “Promise.”

They locked fingers and shook on it. Yugi laced the rest of their fingers together too. 

“Ultra-promise,” he said, waving their joined hands around.

Atem smiled and nodded. Then he looked at their hands and something nervous came over him, just enough to notice. The already-dark skin of his face colored a shade or two darker. He stared out of the corner of his eye, like he was deliberately avoiding eye contact.

“Something wrong?” Yugi asked. 

He made a conflicted noise before answering. “Nothing is _wrong_, per se. I just. Uh.” He sniffed, twitching his nose like a rabbit. “May I… ask something of you?”

That was an easy question. “Sure. Anything.”

Even though that was the ideal answer, Atem nearly balked. “Right. Well. I— I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or cross a line, but I— it would make—” he screwed his eyes shut and ground his teeth with a frustrated grumble.

Yugi squeezed his hand. “Whatever it is, you don’t have to be nervous about it. We’re uh… We’re a great Duduo.”

Atem loosed up with a tiny laugh, just the reaction he’d been hoping to get. Yugi squeezed his hand again and it was lightly squeezed back.

“Whatever it is,” Yugi repeated, “it’s not going to make me hate you or anything. Promise.”

He opened one eye suspiciously. “Can you still hear my thoughts?”

“Nope. I just know I could never hate you.”

“Right.”

Atem opened both his eyes and took a shaky breath. “Would it be too much… if I asked you to kiss me?”

Yugi didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that. 

They never really bothered to label themselves. It was obvious to everyone, including each other, that whatever it was they had, “friendship,” just wasn’t the right word for it. They were virtually inseparable – if one of them went somewhere, the other wasn’t far behind. The list of things they wouldn’t do for each other was _maybe_ two items long. They knew each other to the depth of each other’s souls – literally.

The word “friend,” was a nice shorthand, but it went stale as a _true_ descriptor. “Boyfriend,” just felt childish. Not even “couple,” felt completely accurate. Every title was thrown out, every known specifier was discarded soon after trying it. They settled for “Other Self,” and “Partner,” because they were the only things that even felt remotely correct. “Yugi and Atem,” was one word – _that_ was their label. Nothing else was encompassing enough. 

But they’d never gone quite this “far,” before. It even seemed like a step _backward_, within the context of their entire relationship. Maybe that’s why Yugi hadn’t been expecting it.

Regardless, he still needed to answer the question.

“Uh,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” Atem quickly jumped in to say. “I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated. The thought just… happened upon me and I thought I would. Ask. In case.”

“N-no, it’s alright. It’s not—I mean I’m not uncomfortable with it.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“Yep.”

Silence.

A very awkward silence.

“So do you want me to just—” Yugi started, but couldn’t seem to finish. 

Atem was another two shades darker. “Whatever you like is fine. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Okay. I’ll just…”

Yugi shuffled closer until they were nearly nose to nose. He couldn’t bring himself any farther than that.

He closed his eyes and sighed good-naturedly. “Why is this so hard?”

“I have no idea.”

“We defeated the embodiment of darkness.”

“I know.”

“You were a Pharaoh!”

“_I know!”_

Yugi opened his eyes and found that both of them were grinning like exasperated idiots. 

“What if,” he suggested, “we do it at the same time?”

“Do what?”

“Like we lean in on the count of three. Together.”

“That seems fair.”

“Alright. I’ll count. One—”

“Wait, _on_ three or _after_ three?”

“_On_ three.”

“So ‘one, two—’?”

“Three. And then we— yeah.”

This had to be the most difficult things Yugi had ever done. After this, homework would be a breeze. 

Atem shook himself out and nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay. One. Two. _Three_.”

Miraculously, it worked. At the same time, it felt like way too much effort for something so effort_less_.

The kiss was soft but there was somehow nothing shy about it. They were careful, not nervous, despite the ridiculous amount of preparation. The instant they touched something just… clicked. As if this was the hundredth instead of their first. It was careless in the best possible way. Not without care –but without inhibitions. When they broke away, it was mutual, and just as slow as the coming together. 

Yugi blinked open his eyes and couldn’t help but laugh just a _little_ bit at what he saw. "Well, _somebody's_ happy."

Atem opened one eye, the dopiest, happiest smile glued to his face. "And why wouldn't I be?" He reached out and brushed Yugi's bangs out of his face. "I've caught a Togekiss."

He shook his head. "Nope."

"No?"

Yugi barely brushed their noses together again. "You caught a Luvdisc."

They smiled at each other for a moment longer. Then—

_Yugi used Sweet Kiss. It was Super Effective!_

**Author's Note:**

> i spent time i should have been writing coming up with full Ultra Sun teams for both of these idiots:  
atem: Litten, Umbreon, Ninetails, Salazzle, Alakazam, Milotic   
yugi: Decidueye, Emolga, Minior, Lopunny, Comfey, Gyarados


End file.
